Although the coaching I enjoy most tends towards the meaningful, the enlightening, and the self-discovering, every once in awhile a client wants to revisit some standard tips and tricks for getting things done, prioritizing, and turning a to-do list into something they control (rather than something that controls them).

I put this post together because over the past six years I’ve experimented with multiple time management systems, and I feel pretty good about having found a productive, enjoyable rhythm that works for me.

I’ve instituted my own special days for reflection and recharging (see Two Days That Have Made All the Difference) and back in 2010 I posted a five part series on time and productivity based on what I’d been learning. (You can find the series by going to Ready for Change’s Best of page, and scrolling down to the Time and Productivity section.)

So How Do I Use Them?

I’ve toyed with all these systems, yet ultimately I’m not committed to any of them. My experience is that taking on any one system wholeheartedly doesn’t work: at first I throw myself into it, wasting time learning and implementing a complicated system when in fact I could just be doing stuff. From a personal development perspective, I’ve also learned that any time I’m desperately searching for The System That Will Solve It All then I’m in a unhealthy/unbalanced place, and finding a system isn’t the solution. The day I start being attracted to regimens, spreadsheets, detailed tracking systems, or uber-control of my workday is the day when I know it’s time to take a break, recharge, and sort out what’s really important. Loosen my grip, rather than tighten it.

So instead of using any one of these systems, I’ve created a mish-mash of ideas and practices that work for me.

Here are some of the highlights:

I Get It Out Of My Head

Getting Things Done is big on getting nagging details and to-dos out of one’s head and captured somewhere. I never carry a to-do list around in my head. Obligations, commitments, and tasks are stored primarily in my google calendar, secondarily in my email, and on a daily basis get dumped onto the notebook I keep beside my computer. For longer-term projects, I jot down monthly milestones in a spreadsheet or on a wall calendar. If new tasks occur to me throughout the day, they get scribbled on my notebook, and once a day I’ll go through the scribbles and decide if the tasks need to get added to my calendar.

If I Can Do It In Two Minutes, I Do It Now

Also from Getting Things Done. If I can do something in two minutes or less, I tackle it during any free time blocks rather than scheduling it for later. If it takes longer than two minutes, I’ll assign it a day/time for completion.

I Schedule Admin/Task Blocks

Primarily lifted from ideas in the Entrepreneurial Time Management System. Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon, for example, are blocks of time that I generally leave open in my schedule so that I can use them for all those longer-than-two-minute tasks that fall into admin/general work (e.g. answering non-time-sensitive emails, processing invoices and payments, scheduling, website updates, social media). This structure leaves huge other chunks of my week wide open for project time and client time. And it also means that when I assign a task a day/time, I’m not getting down to the detail level of: “From 10:10-10:30 I will answer emails.” I just assign it to the admin/task block of time and get to it then.

I Use Daily Labels to Keep My Inbox Spacious

I almost never have more than ten emails in my inbox. I use gmail’s archive function liberally. And if something will need attention in future, I use my daily labels so that it gets out of my inbox but gets tagged to look at later.

Example 1: I want to remember to follow up with a client about scheduling our next session, but the person has just sent me an email saying that they’re away until Thursday. I label that email “Thursday”, archive it, and forget about it until Thursday, at which point I open all the emails in my “Thursday” label and deal with it then.

Example 2: On a Friday, I have an idea for something to write about in Morsels of Change. My usual writing days are Monday. So I email myself the idea, label it “Monday”, and archive it until writing Monday, when I’d open up the “Monday” label and find my ideas waiting for me.

I Differentiate and Block My Browsers

I use Chrome Nanny in Chrome and Leechblock in Firefox to limit what websites I can open during work hours. The basic division is that I do work-related tasks in Chrome, and non-work-related internetting in Firefox. It seems minor, but it’s an actual barrier to my goofing off at work: in order for me to goof off, I have to stop what I’m doing and open a different browser. That’s just enough of an impediment that I goof off way less than I might otherwise. (I developed this habit based on a childhood family practice of keeping the TV unplugged or covered — just enough of a barrier that you use it less than you might otherwise.)

I Take One Weekday Off Every Week

The Now Habit advocates building guilt-free play into one’s schedule first. I tried it out, and realized I get just as much done in an energized four days as I would in a tired-ish five days, and I do so with more energy and enjoyment. And I have a whole weekday available for things like shiatsu appointments, bike rides, reading, or hanging out with my niece or the love-of-my-life. I realize this is a huge perk I can have because I’m self-employed, and that it’s likely not feasible for most folks with regular jobs… yet. Someday, employers will realize the benefits of the four-day workweek!

So what had been on my to-do list as “meditate” becomes “I pay attention to my mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being by giving myself the gift of 30 minutes of meditation.” When I write that sentence down as one of my three daily priorities, I’m much more likely to follow through than if I had just written “meditate” on my to-do list, and I feel more in tune with my values when I check it off the list.

More and More, I Beat Myself Up Less and Less

If a system or habit or practice stops working for me, I let it go. I let something else replace it, or I give it a break and pick it up again later. I no longer blame myself for not being disciplined enough or for being irresponsible or lazy if I’m not acing a productivity system. I can look back at 35 years of life and realize: I’ve handled things pretty well. The important things have been done. I’ve been there for the people I love. All the other things can get a pass now and then when I need it.

Your Thoughts?

I’d love to keep this post fresh with comments from you so that the post can continue to serve as a reference for folks looking for tips and tricks to get through the things they need to do. What works for you? Comment away!

In the five days leading up to the workshop Do You Have Time or Does Time Have You?, I’ll be posting daily about the ideas that work best for me when it comes to time.

Part One: I Can’t Manage Time

Whenever I work with a coaching client who uses the words “time management”, I get curious.

What would it mean to “manage” time? Time doesn’t perform better when I give it positive feedback. I can’t give time a bad performance review and then fire it. I can’t send time to human resources training.

David Allen sums this up succinctly in Getting Things Done. You can’t manage your time, he says. You CAN manage your actions.

That’s a simple and powerful switch in perspective. As long as I am trying to manage time – an intangible phenomenon that can’t be managed – I’ll feel frustrated at my losing battle. But if I switch my focus to managing my actions, suddenly I am back in control.

Next time you hear your mental chatter telling you to “manage your time better”, stop and ask yourself: Which of my actions do I need to manage better? And what would it mean to better manage my actions?

In my post tomorrow, I’ll dip into some of the action management skills that I’ve found most helpful.

At one point or another, every single person I’ve coached has talked about prioritizing and managing their time. Time – what an invention. Someone built a machine that ticks away regularly, and suddenly we are all held captive by how many ticks it gives us in a day. (Neil Postman’s Technopoly provides a fascinating description of how the invention of the mechanical clock changed society – “the transformation of the mechanical clock in the fourteenth century from an instrument of religious observance to an instrument of commercial enterprise” (p. 27) – the whole book is worth reading!)

If you feel like time is running you, here are some experiments you could try:

Imagine your ideal day. If time was yours to spend, what would be the flow of your ideal day? How would it start? How would it end? What would be most important to you? And once you’ve imagined that… ask yourself, how much of it is available to you right now?

Imagine a magic wand. If you had a magic wand that gave you enough time for everything, what would there be time for? And once you’ve thought that through, what have you learned about your true priorities?

Trade your to-do list for a priorities list. For example, if your priorities right now are “health” and “family”, you don’t need to rely on a list of things to do in both categories. Wake up each morning and ask yourself, “What am I going to do for my health today? What am I going to do for my family?” It can be that simple.

Know what your values are. Anytime something tries to worm its way onto your to-do list, run it through your values filter first. Does it honour your values enough to be allowed onto your list?

Say no more often. As Peter Block writes, “If we cannot say no, then our yes means nothing” (The Answer to How is Yes, pg. 28). Set yourself a goal. How many things are you going to give a true “no” to this week? How many things deserve your true “yes”?

Go a week without your to-do list. Experiment. What do you discover?

Go a week without a watch, or any other time device. Notice: if you aren’t using a watch, what are the signals that tell you what needs your attention in a given moment?

And for many, many more ideas, and some of the posts that are inspiring my current approach to time, check out these links: